Kirkman: “They never solve it. At the end of every movie, they’re like ‘The world is covered in zombies, and we’re out of time, so see ya later! … How do you continue to find food and shelter and protect loved ones for years and years and deal with the fall of civilization? How does that affect you? The weak people get strong, and the strong people get weak, and people become insane.”

“The goal … I hope The Walking Dead goes on long enough that at the end, everyone is like, ‘Good thing we took care of those zombies!’ … People talk about how The Walking Dead is bleak, and if you take a certain cross-section of the story, then yeah. Horrible. People have their loved ones eaten and they have a horrible time. But I see the story from beginning to end, over many many years about humanity overcoming this insurmountable apocalyptic situation.”